End of the Road for the Road Warriors Season ends after 3-2 overtime lose eliminates them

Greenville Road Warriors

Posted by Jess Rubenstein
May 28, 2014 at 03:45 am

It was the end of the road for the New York Rangers ECHL affiliate the Greenville Road Warriors as their season came to an end after dropping game 6 of their conference playoff series to the Cincinnati Cyclones 3-2. Once again here is the game report from the Greenville Road Warriors Media Manager Andy Zilch.

The Road Warriors 2013-2014 season comes to a close by losing game 6 and the Eastern Conference Finals 4-2 against the Cincinnati Cyclones.

After the Cyclones outshot the Road Warriors 7-1 through the first seven minutes, defenseman Ryan Hegarty put Greenville on the board with a shot from the point. The goal was scored off a face-off win from Andrew Yogan. Kyle Jean also assisted on the goal. During the final 13 minutes, the Road Warriors outshot the Cyclones. 12-2. Greenville goaltender Jeff Malcolm stopped all nine shots during the course of the period.

The Road Warriors were given a power play just seven minutes into the second period. Cincinnati’s Dan Eves turned the table and scored while shorthanded to tie the game with a shot beating Malcolm low glove side. Both teams were not able to score again and the period ended with the Road Warriors outshooting the Cyclones 10-5 in the stanza and the led the game 1-1 into the third period.

Jonathan Hazen scored halfway through the third period on a power play goal to give the Cyclones a 2-1 lead. The Cyclones would hold strong defensively to the final minutes. Malcolm was pulled for the extra attacker in hopes to tie the game. Yogan tied the game with 56 seconds remaining on a shot that was slung to the net from the corner. Justin Vaive and Brad Cole assisted on goal to send the game into overtime.

The Road Warriors were given a power play 11 minutes into the overtime with an opportunity to win the game. Once again, the Cyclones took advantage of the Road Warriors and scored with another goal from Hazen to conclude the season for Greenville. Malcolm took the loss with 34 saves.

The Road Warriors have nothing to be ashamed of as the team that was seeded 7th in the Eastern Conference knocked off first 2nd seeded Kalamazoo and then 6th seeded Wheeling before finally running out of gas against 5th seeded Cincinnati.

The Ranger prospects:

Samuel Noreau (2011 5th) finished the playoffs with a 0-4-4 +8 and 24 PIMs while going 1-9-10 during the regulars season. Noreau hopefully will take the lessons learned from a rookie season and challenge for a job with Hartford next season.

Kyle Jean (2012 UFA) a 7-5-12 playoff was nice but Jean was demoted from Hartford around mid-season after going 2-2-4 in 41 games for them (4-12-16 for Greenville). Jean is a RFA after this season and it would be a surprise if the Rangers make him a qualifier offer.

Andrew Yogan (2010 4th) led the team in playoff scoring (7-11-18) after being demoted from Hartford. Yogan has one season remaining on his contract with the Rangers so it is time to put up and shut up. Yogan has a ton of talent but for whatever reason he just doesn’t get it.

Yogan has a ton of work to do on and off the ice to get back to Hartford next season.

Josh Nicholls (2012 UFA) had a solid rookie season for Greenville going 20-22-42 during the regular season then a 6-9-15 in the playoffs. Should push for a spot on Hartford next season if he can improve his defense and his decision making processes.

Michael St. Croix (2011 4th) had a mixed season as he was 17-31-48 while with Greenville but scoreless in 13 games with Hartford. Needs to get stronger and tougher otherwise he will be back in Greenville.

Jeff Malcolm (2013 UFA) Rangers had higher expectations for this young goalie but he struggled with Hartford and was demoted to Greenville where he had decent numbers 13-9-3 with a 2.90 goals against and a 0.912 save percentage. He is lucky that he has a contract for next season.

Jason Missiaen (2011 UFA) is a RFA after this season and it would be a surprise if the Rangers offer him anything more than a 1 year deal. He had strong numbers with Greenville (14-6-1 2.96 0.919) but horrible numbers with Hartford (2-11-1 3.83 0.864).

This ends the prospect season for 2013-2014 so while we let things cool off then we will come back with the reports on those playing in Hartford and Greenville (and elsewhere)